Baseball, although commonly referred to as “America's Past time”, is a sport that is played worldwide. From children playing little league baseball to adults playing professional baseball, the sport of baseball is played across an incredibly large age group. Baseball is also played across a broad socioeconomic and cultural spectrum, as is evident by the number of professional baseball players originating from various countries worldwide. Similarly, softball is another sport that is substantially similar to baseball in spirit, albeit a differently sized ball and field is used.
In recent years, baseball has been hampered by a rash of arm injuries suffered by pitchers, the exact cause(s) of which are still unknown. One predominate theory is incorrect biomechanics. Developed at an early age, incorrect pitching and throwing mechanics may cause unwanted and unsustainable torques and pressures on various ligaments and bones of an individual's throwing arm. Another somewhat related theory focuses on overuse by individuals at a young age. When individuals become old enough to compete at a high level, their throwing arms have been compromised due to the prolonged abuse and/or overuse of their throwing arm. With this particular theory, incorrect biomechanics may further exacerbate the problem, as the arm is even more likely to become damaged.
While there exist many baseball training aids, as well as other sport related training aids (e.g., football, basketball, and soccer), each have various drawbacks and flaws. For example, the various football, basketball, and soccer training aids currently available are unable to provide the unique feel and control of a baseball. While each of the aforementioned can be thrown, a user is unable to modify which pitch is being thrown by each due to the different size and/or shape of each sports ball.
Furthermore, because the various training aids for other sports are not capable of helping an individual learn to correctly throw various types of baseball pitches, the option to change a type of pitch that is being thrown, and learn to correctly throw that baseball pitch, is not available with current training aids for other sports.
Thus, it would beneficial for there to be devices, systems, and methods for using a ball, such as a baseball or softball, including one or more sensors to improve an individual's pitching performance. Furthermore, it would be beneficial for such a ball, and a system using the ball, to provide substantially immediate feedback with regard to a quality of a pitch that an individual is attempting to throw, as well as a mechanism to allow an individual to modify a type of pitch to be thrown using the ball.